The Minimaze appointment in Sheffield

 

THE TRIP TO SHEFFIELD

24 September 2025

Omg! Omg! OMG! This was surreal.

To recap.  My four ablations in five years had all failed and amiodarone had stopped working properly.  Pace & Ablate would seem to be unsuitable both for my lifestyle and age.  This left me with the option to explore the MiniMaze (hybrid) surgical ablation.  So, I had contacted Mr Hunter at Sheffield via his secretary and he agreed to see me if my GP would do a referral which he duly did. 

It was supposed to be three hours to Sheffield from home so obviously we left five hours, just in case.  Naturally, the traffic flowed beautifully and we found a (FREE) parking space in the street straight away.  It then took us about a mile of walking round an enormous sprawl of buildings before we found the Chesterman Outpatient Dept.  It was still only 0830 so we made our arrival known and was a bit surprised to be sent straight to Xray.  We had a cuppa in the café and back to the clinic where I was immediately weighed, height taken, blood pressure, lung function test, fitted for support tights and various other things.

Back to waiting room and then called for an ECG.  Back to waiting room and then blood tests.  It was so strange.  I felt like any minute they were going to take me somewhere and do the surgical ablation there and then!! My husband said I looked a deer caught in the headlights. 

After a short wait we were called to see the Cardiac Nurse specialists who were both lovely.  Once again, I croaked out that I was only there for a consultation and “I haven’t even decided to have it done yet!”

They said I had better talk to Mr Hunter straight away then. He came in and told me there was a 78% success rate, he would ablate the outside of my heart, around the pulmonary veins, clip the LAA (Left Atrial Appendage) and cut it away and therefore I would no longer need to be on blood thinners (sic) which he pointed out would be good with my bleeding disorder (HHT).  He mentioned casually that they would collapse both my lungs but reassured me that it would be first one, then the other!  I said that Papworth had said there was nothing left to do inside the heart and he said he would check that and hopefully I would not need a further catheter ablation. 

He was unbothered by my SCADs or my HHT.  He seemed mystified that I was there not knowing whether I would have it done or not and perhaps a little put out.  He said he would add me to his waiting list regardless (!) and then I could just cancel if I decided against it.  I asked how long the waiting list was (got to be about six months, I thought).  He said a couple of months.  I spluttered “A COUPLE OF MONTHS – SO SOON!” and he said “Definitely before Christmas”!   I think he thought I was a bit of an idiot!  To be honest, that was probably a fair assessment! 

The nurses then told me a ton of useful information and gave me masses of leaflets and directed me to masses more on-line.  To be honest, I was just in total shock and didn’t’ take much in. My husband asked a few sensible questions (while I sat there like a zombie)  and then we left and drove to Worksop for tea and cake then Clumber Park for a walk before the long drive back. 

I was quite tearful in a way I didn’t really understand (shock?) and realised I had completely misunderstood this appointment – there was me thinking it was a chat and instead it was a “One Stop Shop” as they call it.

I had been hoping to get a bit fitter before having this procedure, but then I thought it didn’t really matter as I would just get unfit again anyway.  I had even managed a two runs in the two weeks before. Run may be overstating it just a tad – in fact Nordic walked 7 x ( 5.25 mins and jogged 45s) for the first time since my SCADs; then next time I Nordic walked and then did (1 min  jog/2 min walk) x nine times – but it all counts and at least I had now run since the SCADs and broken that duck! ).

And that, dear Readers, was that… 

Once I had wrapped my tiny mind around the whole thing I realised, I really had no choice but to give this Minimaze (or Surgical Ablation as they call it) a go.  Helping me on my way was a 24-hour episode of slow (100-120 beats per minute) Afib for which, for the first time ever, I didn’t even go to hospital.  I did not want to waste another 11 days of my life stuck in a ward again and the out-patients’ wait for cardioversion was at least 10-12 weeks so I thought I had better try and live with it.

24-hours later we went for a short, rather breathless walk, and it flipped back into NSR (Normal Sinus Rhythm)!  Which was lucky as we were off to London for the weekend with friends which had been cancelled due to me collapsing with the second SCAD back in May! 

The Saturday was tough – I was very tired and had chest pains.  I’d been having them for awhile and I’m pretty sure they are IBS – indigestion – stress related.  The next day I felt dreadful.  I could barely stand on the escalator as we travelled to meet my brother and his wife who were over from Brazil. 

Luckily, almost straight away the fatigue lifted and I felt fine for the rest of the day!  So, it took 48 hours to recover from 24 hours of Afib. 

The next day, 6 October, I was chilling at home when the phone rang.  Sheffield appointments – “Could I come in on 13^th October”.  Flipping ‘eck!!!  I was kind of thinking it was a few weeks away so I agreed and she gave me some info.  As she went to hang-up she said “See you Sunday” and the penny dropped that it was just six days away!!!!

The next day the chest pains were so bad I went to A&E where the lovely doctor confirmed my self-diagnosis of IBS – Indigestion – Stress – more IBS cycle.  But I thought it as well to be sure before the long treak to Sheffield.  They were lovely about me wasting their time too.  They reiterated that getting chest pain checked is always the right thing to do.

 

Next stop Sheffield but that, too, is another story for next time…..